Record carrying or memorandum device



April 1933. DE WlTT c. HARRIS 1,903,454

RECORD CARRYING OR MEMORANDUM DEVICE Filed June 20, 1930 Patented Apr.11, 1933 V DEWIT T C. HARRIS, OF LAKELAND,'FLORIDA nnconn CARRYING onMEMORANDUM- matron- Application filed Tune 20,-

The inventionrelates generally to record carrying or memorandum deviceshaving means providing a surface of comparatively large-area adapted tocarry or have written thereon data of various kinds, the device beingadapted to be collapsed toconceal the major portion of the recordcarrying surface'and to occupy a minimum amount of space, and also beingextensible to render visiblethe entire record carrying surface.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved device of this character of sturdy and economical constructionwhich may be easily moved by the operator to its extended position.

In a device of this character it is often desirable to replace a part ofthe data carried on a record receiving surface and an-' other object ofthe present invention is to provide a device of this character adaptedto receive a plurality of removable cards so as to facilitatereplacement of various parts of the data carried by the device.

In the use of such a device the information is usually written upon therecord receiving surface while the device is suspended from a suitablesupport and another object of theinvention is to provide such a devicehaving a substantially rigid surface upon which information may bewritten easily by the user. I l

Another object is to provide a collapsible device of this characterhaving a, plurality of plates connected'together for movement from acompact face to face relation where in the faces of the intermediateplates are concealed, to an extended edge to edge relation wherein dataon one face of each of the plates may be seenby the user.

Another object is to provide such an im proved device capable ofmovement between extended and collapsed positions, together with meansoperable to hold the device in its collapsed position. Another object isto provide a collapsible device of this character adapted for use as anabridged telephone directory or Inem0- randum device and embodying novelmeans for securing the device to the transmitter of a telephone.

1930'. Serial. No. 462,586. I

Another object is to provide such an extensible device having aplurality ofsubstantiall y rigid 1plates each adapted to have: a card.removab y secured thereto, .and connected together in series, preferablyby pivotal joints, whereby to permit the plates to be moved from' acompact relation whereinthey lie face to face to an extended relationwherein they are positioned with their corresponding'card-carrying facesvisible from one direction, together with resilient 'means' for drawingthe plates to their compact rela tion. 7 a

Another object is to provide such a collapsible device formed from aseries of pivotally connected members and having resilientmeans of anovel character for producing the desired pivotal movement of thevarious members. r

Other objects and advantageswill become apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:I

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the invention in its preferred form,attached to a telephone transmitter, and positioned'in its extendedrelation.

Fig. 2 is a perspectiveview of the device in its compact r'e1ation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of two of the plates and a pivot pin whichform a part of the device. l

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing a formation of the attachingdisk and the adjacent one of the plates. Figs. 5x an d 6 are sectionalviews taken along the lines 5 5 and 66 respectively of For purposesofdisclosure the preferred form of the invention "is illustrated in thedrawing and will' hereinafter be described in detail as embodied in aform adapted for use as an abridged telephone directory, but it is tobeunderstood that this'disclosure is not 9 5 I intended as alimitationof the invention to this form and to this particular use, itbeing contemplated that various changesmight be made by those skilled inthe art to adapt the invention to other forms'anduses withoutde- 9 1PATE'Nr OFFICE 7 ed for movement from acollapsed relation shown in Fig.2 to an extended relation shown in Fig. 1. In the collapsed relation theplates 10 are positioned closely adjacent to one another so that thedevice occupies a minimum amount of space and the faces of mostof theplates are conceal-ed from view; The plates 10, when in their collapsedpositions are preferably parallel to each other and in a face to facerelation but when the plates are moved to the extended position shown inFig. 1, they assume an edge to edge relation wherein the correspondingfaces of the plates are disposed in the same general direction and datacarried on the faces of the plates may be readily seen by the user. a

It will be seen that the aggregate area of all of the plates is quitelarge and since the plates may be made vsubstantially rigid, thesurf-aces thereof are suitable for writing of memoranda thereon. Forthis purpose the user may write on the upper surface 'of'any one of theplates with one hand while that particular plate is grasped at its edgesand supported by the other hand.

The mounting. of the plates 10 for movement between their compact andextended relations may be accomplished by any desired means and in thepresent case this result is obtained by connecting the plates directlyto each other in series to permit relative movement of the plates. T oeflect the serial connection of the plates, each plate 10 has aplurality of suit-able hinge lugs 12 formed on the -opposite edgesthereof and a plurality of 7 pins 13 extend through the lugs topivotally connect the, plates to each other in series. The axes of thelugs 12 on opposite edges of each plate 10 are offset inoppositedirections from the plane of the plate (Fig. 5) to permit theplates to move into parallel relation'to each other. f While the plates1O'1nay be made of such a material and texture that records may bewritten directly on a permanent surface thereof, the present embodimentis such that the plates 10' may removably receive a plurality ofseparate cards 15 upon which information may be written or printed.Thus, the device not only provides a memorandum receiving means, butalso may be said to constitute a convenient filing device wherein eachplate 10 forms a record holder. Convenient access to the. cards 15 heldon the plates10 may'be-had at any time by moving 7 the plates 10 totheir extended relation, yet

thedevice normally occupies only a minimum amount of space since it maybe moved to the compact bellows-like relation shown in Fig. 2 When notin active use.

Since the cards 15 provide a suitable writ ing surface, the plates 10may be made of sheet metal thus simplifying the manufacturing operationsnecessary to produce the device. Thus, in the 'form shown, the hingelugs 12 are formed by curling integral portions of the plates 10 asshown in Figs. 3 and 5. Integral portions of the plates 10 may also beused to provide a detachable mount- 15 from the plates 10 withoutmutilating the edges of the cards. This is accomplished by forming apair of apertures 10 in eachplate 10, spaced from the outer edges of theplate so that the sharp point of a pencil or the like may be projectedthrough the apertures 10 from the rear of the plate to bend the card 15outwardly and disengage it from the end flanges 16. v

In order to automatically move the plates 10 to the collapsed or compactposition shown in Fig. 2, resilient means is preferably provided actingbetween the various plates 10 to produce pivotal movement thereof towardtheir face to face relation. In the present case this is accomplished byutilizing the pivot pins 13 as torsional springs and as shown in Fig. 3,the pivot pin is of sufficient length to project at both ends beyond theoutermost hinge lugs 12. These projecting ends of the pivot pins 13 arebent to provide arms 18 projecting at right angles to the axis of thepivot pins. When two of'the adjacent plates have been connectedtogetherby projecting one of the pivot pins 13 through the hinge lugs12, one of the arms 18 is positioned beneath the adjacent end flange 16on one of the two plates. The other arm 18 is then rotated to apply atorsional stress to the pivot pin 13 and that arm 18 is'then positionedbeneath the adjacent flange 16 of the other one of the two plates. Thetorsional stress in the pivot pin 13 will then tendto move the twoplates into a face to face relation.

The movement of the plates 10 to their exittest;

pins acts as means for holding the plates in this position.

For the purpose of conveniently attaching the device to the telephonetransmitter 11, two means are herein shown, which may be usedindependently or together as desired.

The first of these two means comprises an apertured disk 20 connected toone of the end plates of the series, the aperture 21 in the disk beingof sufficient size to slip over the enlarged outer end of the mouthpiece 22 of the transmitter. At its outer edge the disk 20 has aplurality of resilient arcuate clips 23, extending in the same directionfrom the disk and arranged to engage the side edges of the transmitterto hold the disk in position against the forward face 24 thereof. Thesecond securing means comprises a pair of resilient arcuate clampingarms 25, secured on the forward side of'the disk 20 and arranged toembrace the sides of the mouth piece 22.

In Fig. 4 of the drawing it will be seen that the disk 20 and theadjacent plate 10 are integrally formed from a single sheet of metalwith the plate and the disk substantially parallel and offset from eachother by a connecting web 26 lying at right angles to the plate 20. Withthis construction a convenient pencil holder may be provided by forminga resilient finger 27 from the metal of the plate 10 and the web 26,this finger being arranged to extend upwardly through the apertureformed in theweb 26 in cutting the finger therefrom. Thus, a pencil 28may be positioned on the top of the web 26 and held in position by thefinger 27 which clamps the pencil against the disk 20.

If desired, a small ring or disk 30 may be provided on the outer one ofthe plates 10 to provide a finger piece which may be grasped by the userto draw the plates to their extended position. Since this ring isvisible at all times it may be used to carry a suitable advertisingslogan. The disk 20 may also be used as a carrier for advertisingmaterial and for this purpose has a flange 20 about its outer edge tooverlie a card 15 which conforms to the shape of the disk. 7

The card carried by the outer plate, to

V which the ring 30 is attached, usually carries advertising matter andit is, of course, desirable to prevent discoloring of this card. Toavoid soiling of this card 15, the ring 30 is preferably oflsetforwardly from the plane of the adjacent plate 10 (Fig.1) by means of aconnecting web 31. Thus when the ring is grasped between the thumb andfore finger of the user, it will be impossible for the users thumb tocontact and soil the adjacent card 15.

From the foregoing description it will be the fact that the cards may beremoved quite readily, the device constitutes, in elfeet, a file,

in which a number of records may be kept in conveniently accessiblepositions.

I claim as niyi'nvention':

1. A device of the character described comprising a plurality of platespivotally "cennected at their edges to form an extensible series movablefrom a compacted face to face relation, wherein the faces of theintermedi ate plates are concealed, to an extended re; lation whereinthe corresponding faces of all of said plates may be seen from the sameet.

eral direction, means on the plate at oneend of the series to mount thedevice on a support, means on the plate attheoth'er end of the seriesfor grasping that plate to move the plates to their extended relation,and spring means acting between the adjacent plates to drawsaid platestoward their coin- V pacted relation.

2. A device'of the character described "compidsin in combination, a plrality of sub stantially rigid flat plates pivoted together in seriesfor movement from a'first relation wherein said plates are positionedface to face to jajsecond relation wherein said plates are positionededge to edgewith the corresponding facesof all of said plates visiblefrom one direction, yielding means oper able to move said plates fromsaid second to said first relation, means on one of the end plates ofsaid series for attachingthe' dc: vice to a support, and means on theother end one of said plates for grasping said plat'eto move said platesto their second relation; v

3-. A recording device comprising aphirality of similar flat members,meansconnecting said'members together for movement wherein said memberslie parallel and face to face to an extended relation wherein said itoits

iio

of said members from atom-patted relation 7 members are positioned edgeto edge with'th'e record jfaces' thereof disposed in the same generaldirection, resilient means acting to move said membersfrom said extendedrelation to said compacted relation, means on one of said membersformounting the device on a support, and means onanother one of saidmembers adapted to be grasped by a user to move said plates to theirextended relation against the force of said resilient means.

4. A record carrying device of the char acter described having a pair ofplates, means on the edge of each of said plates providing an aperturedhinge lug-, a wire extending through the aperturesin said lugs topivotally connect said plates to each other, said plates having. endflanges formed thereon extending reversely over the faces of said platesto removably receive a card on each of said plates and said Wire havingits ends extending beyond said hinge lugs and bent V at-right angles tothe pivotal axis of the plates, one of said ends being positionedbeneath the end flange of one plate and the other of said'e'nds beingpositioned beneath w an end flange of the other plate.

5. A telephone directory device comprising, a record receiving means, anapertured disk connected to said means and adapted to surround the mouthpiece of the transmitter, a plurality of resilient clips projecting fromthe outer edge of said disk and adapted to engage the side edges of atransmitter to hold the device in position, and a pair of resilientarcuate arms connected-to said disk and adapted to embrace the sides ofthe mouth piece of a transmitter.

6. A telephone directory device having, in combination, a recordreceiving means, a plate to which'said means is connected, a diskconnectedto saidplate and adapted to be mounted on the forward face of atelephone transmitter, and a resilient finger formed integrally withsaid plate and adapted to clamp a pencil against said disk.

7. A device of the character described, having a plurality of platesconnected togetherfor movement from a compact relation to an extendedrelation, means on one of said plates for mounting said device on asupport and a finger piece on anotherof said plates by which said devicemay be moved to its extended relation,- said finger piece being offsetfrom the plane of the plate to which it is attached.

8. A device of the character described com- I prising a plurality ofplates pivotally connected together in series for movement from acompact face to face relation to an extended relation wherein each ofsaid plates has one face disposed in'the same general direction, meanson the plate at one end of the series to mount the device on asupport,and a fin ger piece on the plate at the other end of theseriesfor moving the plates to their extended relation, said fingerpiece being offset from the plane ofthe plate to Which it is attached.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

' V WVITT C. HARRIS.

